03UndatedThere is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of miseryDante Alighieri / quote ↗
07UndatedThose ancients who in poetry presented the golden age, who sang its happy state,perhaps, in their Parnassus, dreamt this place. Here, mankind's root was innocent; and herewere every fruit and never-ending spring; these streams--the nectar of which poets sing.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
08UndatedOpen thy mind; take in what I explain and keep it there; because to understand is not to know, if thou dost not retain...Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
09Undatedyour soul is sunken in that cowardice that bears down many men, turning their course and resolution by imagined perils, as his own shadow turns the frightened horse.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
13UndatedOh human creatures, born to soar aloft,Why fall ye thus before a little wind?Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
14UndatedI felt for the tormented whirlwindsDamned for their carnal sinsCommitted when they let their passions rule their reason.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
15UndatedWithin her presence, I had once been usedto feeling—trembling—wonder, dissolution;but that was long ago. Still, though my soul,now she was veiled, could not see her directly,by way of hidden force that she could move,I felt the mighty power of old love.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
16Undated…I am left with lessthan one drop of my blood that does not tremble.I recognize the the signs of the old flame.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
17UndatedThere is no greater sorrow than to recall our time of joy in wretchedness.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
18UndatedWhen you are nearer, you will understand how much your eyesight is deceived by distance. Therefore, push yourself a little harder.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
19UndatedAnd what will bow your shoulders downwill be the vicious and worthless company with whom you will fall into this abyss.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
20UndatedHere sighs and cries and shrieks of lamentation echoed throughout the starless air of Hell;at first these sounds resounding made me weep:tongues confused, a language strained in anguishwith cadences of anger, shrill outcriesand raucous groans that joined with sounds of hands,raising a whirling storm that turns itselfforever through that air of endless black,like grains of sand swirling when a whirlwind blows.And I, in the midst of all this circling horror,began, "Teacher, what are these sounds I hear?What souls are these so overwhelmed by grief?"And he to me: "This wretched state of beingis the fate of those sad souls who lived a lifebut lived it with no blame and with no praise.They are mixed with that repulsive choir of angelsneither faithful nor unfaithful to their God,who undecided stood but for themselves.Heaven, to keep its beauty, cast them out,but even Hell itself would not receive them,for fear the damned might glory over them."And I. "Master, what torments do they sufferthat force them to lament so bitterly?"He answered: "I will tell you in few words:these wretches have no hope of truly dying,and this blind life they lead is so abjectit makes them envy every other fate.The world will not record their having been there;Heaven's mercy and its justice turn from them.Let's not discuss them; look and pass them by...Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
21UndatedThere is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery the time when we were happy.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
22UndatedHe who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
23UndatedI, answering in the end, began: 'Alas,how many yearning thoughts, what great desire,have lead them through such sorrow to their fate?Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
24UndatedThis is Nimrod, because of whose vile plan the world no longer speaks a single tongue.Dante Alighieri / quote ↗
